Uttarakhand floods: Bodies of chopper crash victims recovered

Browne, who reached Gauchar in Uttarakhand Wednesday morning to boost the morale of IAF personnel, said, "All the 20 bodies have been recovered and the cockpit voice recorder of the aircraft has also been found."

The Air Chief Marshal will also do an aerial survey of the chopper crash site.

"We will be able to ascertain the reason of the crash only after analysing the cockpit voice recorder that has been recovered," he added.

Collateral damage: An Indian Air Force Mi-17 transport helicopter on a rescue sortie prepares to land at Dharasu in Uttarakhand on June 22. A similar chopper crashed during a rescue operation, killing 20 people aboard. Representation Pic/AFP

Browne also said that the rescue operations would be wrapped up within two-three days after the weather clears up.

The air chief marshal also offered condolence on the death of the personnel belonging to IAF, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) who died in the Mi-17 V5 helicopter crash.

The crash claimed the lives of nine personnel of NDRF, six of the ITBP and five of the Indian Air Force.